The Learning Corner by Precursor

By Mia Farnham, Charles Hudson

Welcome to the Learning Corner, a weekly Precursor Ventures podcast, where members of the Precursor team walk through their favorite articles and news snippets across the venture ecosystem.... more

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FAQs about The Learning Corner by Precursor:

How many episodes does The Learning Corner by Precursor have?

The podcast currently has 97 episodes available.

The Learning Corner by Precursor episodes:

September 24, 2026 Episode #96: a16z's College Alternative, Running From the Luxury Bus, Is the Music About to Stop?
This week on The Learning Corner, Mia and Charles dig into Andreessen Horowitz's $35 million bet on the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a two year college alternative backed by Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia and OpenAI. They then unpack a sharp post from signüll arguing this may be both the best and worst time to start a company, as AI makes building cheap and advantages disappear just as fast, with the big labs close behind. The episode closes with Venky Ganesan of Menlo Ventures on reflexivity in AI valuations, house money versus FOMO, and why position sizing may matter as much as picking winners.
The Tech Elite Is Funding an Alternative to College
The Best and Worst Time to Start a Company
When the Music Is Playing
(0:00) Introduction, musical chairs analogy, and episode overview
(1:03) Andreessen Horowitz’s alternative-to-college academy
(2:24) The rise of education experiments and who alternative pathways serve
(6:40) Shifting early education and family acceptance
(9:42) Starting a company in the AI era: timing, moats, and differentiation
(13:11) Pivoting versus staying the course
(14:11) Finding adjacent problems and unexpected product-market fit
(16:39) Venky Ganesan on “when the music is playing” in venture
(18:23) Does venture have a real corrective grading force?
(19:11) The penalty for dancing in venture and the musical chairs analogy
(19:43) Who already has a chair and why some firms are insulated
(20:46) How firms can lose their chair: performance and LP constraints
(21:34) Being honest about your firm’s position
(21:58) Closing remarks and sign-off
...more
23min
September 17, 2026 Episode #95: The Fool's Gold Problem, Dario's "We Must Pace the Frontier"
This week on The Learning Corner, Mia and Charles dig into Gil Dibner's argument that venture has barbelled into two extremes, a tiny set of consensus darlings that can raise at any price and everyone else, who are increasingly paying pure gold prices for fool's gold. Then they turn to Dario Amodei's essay "We Must Pace the Frontier," the rare moment where Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk all agreed the AI industry needs to slow down. They unpack what "pacing" actually means, and whether it is good or bad news for the thousands of startups building on top of these models.
Raising the Bar: Inception-Stage Venture in the Age of Consensus
We Must Pace the Frontier
(0:00) AI's rapid advancement and its impact on venture capital
(0:41) Introduction and episode overview
(1:01) Gil Dibner's article on venture capital extremes
(2:01) Portfolio math, defensive reserves, and strategic investments
(4:02) Criteria for second checks and exit paths for companies
(6:08) Bridge funding challenges and non-consensus bets
(10:06) Dario Amadeh's essay on pacing AI frontier development
(12:03) Initial reactions and regulatory capture concerns in AI
(16:21) Implications for founders at the application layer
(17:02) Geopolitical considerations in AI development
(18:10) Ripple effects of slowing AI frontier labs on venture capital
(21:52) Public sentiment and market impact of AI companies
(22:04) Closing remarks and listener appreciation
...more
23min
September 10, 2026 Episode #94: The Middle Ground Is Gone, Funded Teams With No Plan, Being Legible to Capital
This week Mia and Charles dig into a market that only seems to have two speeds. Ethan Kurzweil of Chemistry argues the trillion dollar startup is a pink elephant nobody can unsee, and that the pedestrian double or triple has become a relic of a bygone era. David Cahn looks at what happens after the money lands: a generation of well funded teams with big visions and no clear steps to get there. Nikunj Kothari of FPV Ventures closes it out with a tactical playbook for founders raising this fall, from the number you say out loud to why VCs don't actually want a "deal."
Go Big or Go Broke: The Middle Ground is Gone
They Built the Team. They Raised the Money. Now What?
Being Legible to Capital
(0:00) Intro & founder re-entering the market analogy
(0:54) Ethan Kurzweil's article on venture trends
(1:45) Charles Hudson's feedback to portfolio companies
(4:00) Fundraising strategy changes
(5:08) Shifts in investor specialization
(6:26) Venture capital asset class maturity
(7:29) Yoni's post on what capital wants
(9:10) David Kahn's article on post-funding challenges
(11:25) Capital and founder insights
(12:29) Reaction to competitors' large fundraises & need for peer support
(14:54) Nakunj Khathari's fundraising advice
(16:17) Understanding your fundraising dynamics
(17:13) Importance of storytelling and narrative
(18:07) Advice for non-favorable sector founders & closing remarks
...more
20min
September 03, 2026 Episode #93: Vertical AI Today with Nic Poulos of Euclid Ventures
This week we sit down with Nic Poulos, Co-Founder and General Partner at Euclid Ventures and one of the sharper voices on vertical AI, to pressure test the thesis as we head into the end of Q3. We dig into what defensibility actually looks like when any founder can spin up a vertical AI product in a weekend, why a $500M median exit is great math for some funds and tough math for others, and where "death of SaaS" narrative currently sits. Nic also revisits his 2026 predictions on deep tech fragmenting and religion as a vertical AI opportunity.
The Vertical Report 2026 by Euclid Ventures
40 Predictions for 2026 by Nic Poulos, Omar El-Ayat, Luke Sophinos, and Todd Saunders
Clear Eyes, Full Stack, Can't Lose? by Nic Poulos
The Verticalist Summit, September 23 in San Francisco
The Verticalist Newsletter
Verticals: A Weekly Biz Show
(0:00) AI misconceptions, podcast intro, and guest Nic Poulos
(1:07) Euclid's genesis and focus on vertical AI
(1:42) State of vertical AI and market reception
(2:19) Thesis and rapid adoption of vertical AI
(3:29) Evolution of vertical AI vs. vertical SaaS
(5:32) "Death of SaaS" narrative and current thoughts
(7:36) Changing expectations for software and customer requirements
(9:23) Customer needs across different verticals
(10:27) Broad applicability of vertical AI
(12:01) Defensibility and key factors in vertical AI
(14:22) Distribution and customer support in vertical AI
(16:19) Exit values and venture math in vertical AI
(18:25) Mid-market M&A and future market dynamics
(19:41) Fragmentation of deep tech and subcategories
(21:22) Predictions on religious institutions and AI
(22:28) Deals surge in religious communities, closing remarks
(22:50) Episode end
...more
24min
August 27, 2026 Episode #92: Working for Your AI Agent, Engineering Leaders Head for the Exit, What Capital Wants Now
This week on The Learning Corner, Mia and Charles dig into how the rise of AI agents is paradoxically driving startup founders to work longer and harder than ever, with some monitoring their bots around the clock and describing the experience as nothing short of addictive. They then unpack a wave of CTOs and engineering leaders quietly walking away from their roles, driven by founder mode, preference stacks that have rendered equity nearly worthless, and the fact that AI labs like Anthropic are now paying individual contributors more than most executives make elsewhere. The episode closes with a sharp, timely read on what growth investors actually want right now: a credible path to a $20 billion company with you as the emerging winner, nothing more and nothing less.
Startup Founders Are Working Harder Than Ever to Keep Up With Their AI Agents - Katherine Bindley, WSJ
Headed for the Exit: the Great Engineering Leader Career Break - Gergely Orosz, The Pragmatic Engineer
What Capital Wants - Yoni Rechtman, 99D
(0:00) Introduction, educating the market, and welcome
(0:51) Article discussion: Startup founders and AI agents (WSJ)
(1:44) The human cost of AI agents and founder burnout
(3:08) Pressure to constantly work with AI agents
(7:10) Article discussion: Engineering leader career breaks (Pragmatic Engineer)
(9:05) Role of speed and planning in startups
(14:02) AI transformation in big companies
(16:32) Learning AI transformation at scale
(17:20) Article discussion: What capital wants (Slow Substack)
(18:30) Advice for founders on pitching investors
(20:43) Attaching your product to current market interests
(23:51) Advice for convincing investors about the market
(25:03) Shifting strategies and being a generalist investor
(25:40) Signaling for founders vs LPs in investment strategies
(26:48) Closing remarks and acknowledgments
...more
28min
August 20, 2026 Episode #91: AI Rocketship or Left for Dead, The Worst VC Introduction, To Be or To Do
This week on The Learning Corner, an observation from investor Matt Turck that startups today are either AI-native rocketships or left for dead opens up a real conversation about what that binary actually means for founders building outside the hype cycle. Michelle Volz's essay "To Be or To Do" uses military legend John Boyd's framework to argue that Silicon Valley has quietly shifted from rewarding builders to rewarding the performance of building, and why discipline is the actual path to the biggest outcomes. We finally close with Vinnie Lauria, Founding Partner at Golden Gate Ventures, who breaks down why a VC who already passed on your company is one of the worst people to introduce you to another investor and why credible signal matters far more than access in fundraising.
(0:00) Introduction, changing venture landscape, and founder challenges
(0:43) Matt Turk's AI-native startups post and narrative pushbacks
(2:10) The binary nature of today's venture environment
(3:14) Turning down large investment rounds and the Panopticon effect in SF
(5:06) Trade-offs of slower growth, profitability, and overvalued mega rounds
(7:06) Investor obligations and shifting focus
(8:25) Vinny Loria's essay on VC introductions and credible signals
(11:38) Angel investors vs. institutional VCs
(14:23) Michelle Bowles' essay on status vs. substance in Silicon Valley
(15:41) The status game in venture capital
(17:31) Upstream funding risks and diligence in today's market
(18:25) Building non-AI companies in the current environment
(20:24) Sponsor: AngelList
(20:29) Thanks to listeners and subscription reminder
...more
21min
August 13, 2026 Episode #90: Is Series A Broken?, Are Winners Ever Found In Hype Markets?, The Power Of The Builder Archetype
This week on The Learning Corner, Mia and Charles dig into Gil Dibner's argument that Series A investors have fundamentally abandoned their core function, opting instead to invest way too late, way too early, or simply accumulating options without conviction. They then unpack Sequoia's twenty-year hype analysis that shows the most valuable companies are almost never founded in the peak hype year of their category, and what today's signals might tell us about the next big wave. The episode closes with Maple VC's Talent Arbitrage framework and why the Builder, the nonlinear, hardest-to-categorize founder, is the most important and most overlooked signal in early stage investing.
Is Series A Broken?
Should You Chase Hype or Ignore It?
The Talent Arbitrage
(0:00) The broken state of pre seed and series a labels, introduction, and welcome
(1:01) Gil Dibner's take and current series a market dynamics
(2:11) Charles Hudson's perspective on market changes
(3:43) Alternative funding routes for founders
(4:40) Series a market viability for various companies
(6:08) Opportunity for new series a investors
(7:47) Analysis of hype data vs. valuable companies
(9:15) Challenges and humility in focusing on non-hyped themes
(12:59) Communicating value of lesser-known companies
(15:31) Duration and impact of current market hype
(16:52) The talent arbitrage and evaluating founder archetypes
(22:26) Impact of losing inventor founders on startups
(22:53) The role of inventors across the company lifecycle and closing remarks
...more
24min
August 06, 2026 Episode #89: Industrializing the Blame Game, VC-Backed Startups and Fraud, Will You Quit on Me?
This week on The Learning Corner, we dig into three pieces that all orbit the same uncomfortable question: who is actually accountable when things go wrong? Angela McNeal's "The Architecture of Blame" argues that AI does not invent accountability gaps, it industrializes them at machine speed across every workflow at once. New academic research reveals that VC-backed startups are statistically more likely to commit fraud, and that investors are not passive victims but active co-creators of the conditions that make it happen. We close with a Wall Street Journal investigation into how the AI talent war is turning founders into acquihire targets, with VCs now explicitly asking in diligence: will you quit on me?
The Architecture of Blame
VC-Backed Startups Commit More Fraud, and Researchers Think They Know Why
VCs Are Asking Founders: "Will You Quit on Me?"
(0:00) Founder commitment and podcast introduction
(1:09) AI, accountability, and the architecture of blame
(6:12) Role of AI agents and employee responsibility
(9:57) Fraud patterns in VC-backed startups
(12:18) Handling and prevalence of fraud in venture capital
(15:08) SEC audits and the cycle of fraud
(18:29) Founder poaching and acqui-hires in the AI sector
(22:58) Founder pressure, investor expectations, and scaled outcomes
(24:32) Founders' desire to be high performers
(25:21) Impact of external signals on perceived performance
(26:00) Realism of founder commitments and episode closing
...more
27min
July 30, 2026 Episode #88: Supporting Young Founders Well, YC's Fall Requests For Startups, Why Labs Say Frontier Not Foundation
This week Mia and Charles are joined by Precursor intern Aleena to dig into three good reads. First up, Ashley Smith's piece on the pressures young founders face today, including predatory incubators that trade small checks for outsized equity stakes. Then, YC's Fall 2026 Requests for Startups, featuring the first ever entry from a sitting US Secretary of the Army. They close with Frontier, a piece unpacking why AI labs stopped calling their models foundation models and started calling them frontier models, and what that shift reveals about how durable their moats really are.
The Young Founder Experience
YC Requests for Startups
Frontier
(0:00) Introduction, welcome, and Ashley Smith's article
(2:36) Charles Hudson's reaction and takeaways
(6:04) Balancing honesty and fearlessness in young founders
(7:13) The myth of building great products
(9:04) Y Combinator's fall 2026 request for startups
(10:18) Significance of government officials' participation
(12:18) Consumer products and the return of YC
(17:15) Request for startups from Precursor's perspective
(18:59) Frontier models vs. foundation models in AI
(25:00) Closing remarks
(25:12) Sponsor: Precursor Ventures
...more
26min
July 23, 2026 Episode #87: Patience Pays In Venture, Why Humans Beat AI, Managing Your Agent Workforce
This week on The Learning Corner, Mia and Charles dig into Nick Chirls' case for patience as an underrated venture strategy, using the owners versus tenants framing to explain why short term thinking is eating the industry. They then explore David Deming's argument that humans still hold a real edge over AI in social learning, especially in reading people and building trust from just a handful of interactions. The episode closes with George Sivulka's provocative piece comparing AI agents to a workforce, drawing parallels between tokenmaxxing and headcount bloat, and looping and meetings about meetings. Tune in for a conversation on long term thinking, the future of human judgment, and how to actually manage an AI agent workforce well.
Patience (and on owners v. tenants) - Nick Chirls
Efficient Social Learning Is the Human Advantage Over AI - David Deming
You Just Hired a Million Bad Employees - George Sivulka
(0:00) Introduction, AI readiness, and episode overview
(0:47) Patience in venture: Nick Charles' post and fund manager-LP alignment
(2:14) The game on the field and investor awareness
(3:07) Revenue durability and legibility to LPs
(5:30) The conundrum and risks of patience in venture capital
(7:23) Impact of patience on founders, employees, and social values
(10:10) David Deming's Substack: social learning vs. AI
(12:22) Comparative advantage, human leadership, and people management in the AI era
(17:24) George Sowellka's post on AI agents and management
(19:18) Favorite comparisons from George’s piece
(20:13) Forward deployed engineers and business transformation
(21:14) Challenges of AI-powered customer support
(22:02) Consulting’s role in business transformation
(22:52) Managing dysfunction: AI vs. humans and software checkpoints
(24:34) Emotional differences, managing AI agents, and closing remarks
...more
27min

FAQs about The Learning Corner by Precursor:

How many episodes does The Learning Corner by Precursor have?

The podcast currently has 97 episodes available.